High compression externally fired laminal displacer engine



July 4, 1961 N. B. WALES 2,990,681

HIGH COMPRESSION EXTERNALLY FIRED LAMINAL DISPLACER ENGINE Filed Jan.10, 1961 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 v A 522: Cue/MN)? zn/w/wra w/spmcae ZZ low L aw Pezssue: iiiiSU/PE Cow or var HIGH COMPRESSION EXTERNALLY FIREDLAMINAL DISPLACER ENGINE Filed Jan. 10, 1961 N. B. WALES July 4, 1961 6Sheets-Sheet 4 E NV NTOR I uluw July4,1961 N. B. WALE 2,990,681

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N. B. WALES July 4, 1961 HI GHCOMPRESSION EXTERNALLY FIRED LAMINALDISPLACER ENGINE Filed Jan. 10, 1961 5004mm; HA /477N5- m a Pay w m. m mM P 6 D United States Patent 2,990,681 HIGH COMPRESSION EXTERNALLY FIREDLAlVIINAL DISPLA'CER ENGINE Nathaniel B. Wales, 649 Hill St.,Southampton, N.Y. Filed Jan. 10, 1961, Ser. No. 89,597 22 Claims. (Cl.6024) This invention relates to an improved form of an externally fireddense air heat engine of the generic Stirling type, which provides ahigh compression ratio. In this engine dense air or a gas as aworking-fluid is moved by the oscillatory angular rocking displacementof a laminated rotatable displacer member between alternate thermalcontact with stationary hot and cold walls which interleave theextremities of the laminations of this displacer at the respectiveterminations of its displacement.

The rocking motion or oscillation of the laminated displacer of myinvention is so coordinated with the reciprocation of a piston in aworking cylinder volume, that, at the peak of the pistons compression,due to the preferred intermittant movement of the displacers action, thedense working-fluid such as air or a gas is ejected from the coldclearance volume through a heat regenerator into the hot clearancevolume; whereas during the power stroke, the dense hot working-fluidflows from the hot clearance volume through a very short direct ductinto the working piston volume.

It is evident that the cylinder head as will be seen from followingdetailed specifications is composed of a plurality of separate parts asformed for practical manufacture and ease of assembly purposes but whichcontains and houses the heating and cooling elements, the displacer asWell as the regenerator in a compact operative assembly.

Now it may thus be seen that my invention utilizes four separate activechambers, namely, a cold clearance volume chamber, a regeneratorchamber, a hot clearance volume chamber, and a working cylinder volumechamher.

This is in contradistinction to the conventional Stirling engine designwhich utilizes only three chambers since its cold clearance volumechamber is identical with its working cylinder volume chamber.

In the present Stirling engine art, the early impractical weight andvolume requirements for a given power output have been overcome by theuse of up to 100 atmospheres base pressure to increase the density, andhence the thermal capacity, of the Working fluid, so that modernStirling dense air engines can now successfully complete with and excelsteam and internal combustion engines in their power per unit weightratios, and in thermal efficiency.

The conventional to date Stirling dense working-fluid displacer consistsof a hollow cylindrical closed ended piston which reciprocates linearlyalong an axis which is coaxial with its working piston and cylinder.Because of the fact that such engines combine their cold clearancevolume with the working cylinder volume, the motion of this coaxialdisplacer is contrived to follow the piston downward during the powerstroke so as to shield the expanding hot dense air working-fluid frompremature contact with the cold walls of the combined cylinder chamberand cold clearance volume.

The consequence of this arrangement is that the total minimum clearancevolume of such an engine must be nearly equal to the pistondisplacement, because, in 01- Patented July 4, 1961 lowing the pistondown during this shielding action, the coaxial displacer sweeps outbehind it nearly the same volume as the working piston displaces.

This large minimum clearance volume, in turn, determines that thecompression ratio of such coaxial displacer engines can never be muchgreater than 2.5 to 1, resulting in an excessively high base pressurerequirement.

The present invention overcomes this compression ratio limitation byseparating the cold working-fluid clearance volume from the workingpiston volume, thereby making the motion of the displacer relativelyindependent of the motion of the working piston, and allowingcompression ratios of 5+ to 1, or more, to be achieved.

The consequent benefits are greater thermal efficiency and lowerrequired base pressures. In addition, my invention teaches a highlydeveloped lamination of the displacer so as to increase the ratio of thearea of heat transfer to the volume of the heat transfer chamber.

These spaced apart laminal disks are adapted to intermesh withconforming stationary heat transfer surfaces which greatly increase theefficiency of heating air or a gas by forcing it into a film during heattransfer periods.

Further, by utilizing a rotary displacer member it is possible to use apair of balanced floating rotary seals to give mechanical control accessfrom the unpressurized exterior of the engine to the interior of thepressurized displacer chamber.

It is evident that air or a gas can be utilized in this engine as itsworking fluid.

It is an object of this invention to provide a design for externallyfired dense-gas or air engines which will permit high compressionratios.

A second important object is to provide a laminated geometry ofdisplacers of dense-air or gas engines which will provide an improvedratio of temperature transfer area to volume for displacer chambers.

A third object is to provide a displacer design which will permit itstiming control through rotary seals.

A fourth object is to provide a floating rotary seal which will have lowfriction and minimum wear under high fluid pressures.

A fifth object is to provide a pressure control system for dense airengines which will make the engine torque responsive to the load.

A sixth object is to reduce the base-pressure as required for highoutput by substantially increasing the engines compression ratio.

A seventh object is to utilize an enlarged cylinder-head as thecontainer for the displacer, heating and cooling elements andregenerator so as to obtain compactness and internally shortintercornmunicating ducts between operative chambers.

Other objects are implicit in the accompanying specifications andclaims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a partially exploded isometric view of the preferred threecylinder embodiment of my invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded isometric view in part of the heat exchanger headof FIG. 1 showing one hollow type displacer lamination;

FIGS. 3a to 3g are a sequential series of mechanical schematic diagramsshowing the timing of the engine;

FIG. 4 is a plan view through 4-4- of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a section in elevation through 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a sectional elevation of a sealing structure having floatingbalance.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a preferred form of base pressurecontrol in response to the load experienced by the engine;

FIG. 7a is a schematic diagram of the working-fiuid circuit of theseparate operative chambers of my invention namely C, H, R and P incontradistinction to the operative chambers seen in FIG. 7b;

FIG. 7b is a schematic diagram of the working-fluid circuit of theoperative chambers of the conventional Stirling cycle engine wherebychambers P and C are combined and their functions are operative in spaceP+C;

FIG. 8 is a view in perspective of the displacer proportions as taughtin the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1 through it may be seen that the cylinder mono-block3 contains three pistons 7 which are coupled to crankshaft 1 byconnecting rods 8 at 120 phase relationship. Crankshaft 1 is journalledin crankcase 2 and emerges at each end therefrom through rotary floatingpressure seals 99. Cylinder mono-block 3 is secured and gasketed tocrankcase 2 so as to form a constant volume air pressure reservoir 86therewith (see FIG. 5). Cylinder mono-block 3 has an upper flange 4provided with cooling air inlet apertures 6 and exhaust apertures 5which communicate with and are sealed to cooling air intake manifold 15and exhaust manifold 68 respectively.

A blower wheel 17 secured to shaft 1 operates in blower housing 16 tosupply cooling air and combustion-air to the intake manifold 15.

A regenerator housing plate 9 is provided to form an upper closure forcylinder mono-block 3 and a base to which the three heat exchangerrotary displacer heads 30 are secured to and sealed, see FIG. 1 and FIG.4. Apertures 10 and 13 in plate 9 (see FIG. 1) continue the intake andexhaust ducts '6 and 5 of flange 4 respectively.

The three regenerators 11 (see FIG. 5) each consist of a large number ofmetal wires which are stacked in parallel array within the cavities 14of regenerator housing plate 9 so that they present a large area of heattransfer either to hot dense working-fluid passing up from cylinderblock 3 via duct 12 and through the interstices between the parallelregenerator wires 11 into the cold displacer clearance volume 62 of aheat exchanger section-head 30 (see FIG. 3), or conversely, to colddense air passing down from one of the cold displacer clearance volumes62 through the interstices of the parallel regenerator wires '11 andback up through duct 12 into the opposite displacer hot clearance volume62 during the displacer transfer which takes place when a piston 7 issubstantially at the top of its stroke. In the former case, the warmdense air passing from the cylinder to the cold space leaves behind alarge portion of its heat by heating the regenerator wires, while in thelatter case, the cold compressed gases passing from the cold spacerecover the stored heat from the regenerator wires before passing intothe hot displacer space 62' of head 30 (see also FIG. 3).

Each displaced heat exchanger head 30 may be seen in FIGS. 2, 4, and 5to be formed by a stack of plates 49, 51, 52, 53, 52, 51, 52, 53, 52,51, 52, 53, 52, 51, 52, 53, 52, 51, 49 which are furnace brazed togetherin a jig to form a series of four interconnected high pressure flat Dshaped displacer chambers 62 and 62 which are interleaved on one sidewith five low pressure cooling heat exchange chambers 58, and on theother side with five low pressure heating heat exchange chambers 57, seeFIGS. 2, 4 and 5.

Each low pressure heat exchange chamber, whether hot or cold, isprovided with a plurality of heat transfer fins 63, these are spaced ateach end by interlocking combs 64, andrserve to support and space thethin heat separator plates 52. .These imturnseparate the .low pressure.heating and cooling medium chambers from the high pressure working-fluiddisplacer chambers 62 and 62'.

By means of this construction a rigid, light-weight, eflicient heatexchange manifold is capable of being manufactured from low coststampings. Exchanger heads 30 are secured to plate 9 and cylindermono-block flange 4 by means of bolts 50. In FIG. 2, the apertures 66 inplates 51 are to obstruct direct fiow-of-heat from the hot to the coldsides thereof.

The displacer laminations 60 are hollow for low heat capacity andconduction, being each formed of two fanshaped drawn shallow cups whichare clamped together on a common shaft 29 between spacers 65 by nuts 71.A flat on shaft 29 serves to key the congruent keyways 61 of thedisplacers 60 to shaft 29.

As may be seen in FIG. 4, shaft 29 is provided with a bearing cup 73 atone end which is journalled in bearing bushing 70 of bearing flange 69which, in turn, is secured to the end plate 49.

The multiple hollow displacers as seen in FIGS. 4 and 5 have closeclearances with the plates 52 and 53 which form the Walls of the highpressure displacer chamber. It may be seen that when shaft 29 is rotatedin bearings 70 by lever 27 as far as it can go in the clockwisedirection as shown in FIG. 5, the major clearance volume 62 is on thecold temperature exchanger side so that the co d low pressure air beingforced from manifold 15 through ducts 6 and 58 and out manifold 56 willabstract heat from the dense high pressure working fluid air in coldclearance volume 62 by allowing heat to flow through the thin separatorplates 52 and ducting fins 63 into the cooling air stream.

Conversely, when the displacers 60 are displaced degrees by thecounter-clockwise rotation of shaft 29, FIG. 3a, when piston 7 is nearthe top of its stroke, the cold compressed air in cold clearance volume62 will be displaced downward through duct 14 and regenerator 11 intothe newly created hot clearance volume 62 via duct 12. At this pointheat will flow from the hot low pressure gases of combustion (which areflowing from combustion chambers 34 through ducts 55, 57, 13 and '5 intoexhaust manifold 68) past fins 63 and wall 52 so as to transfer heatinto the dense high pressure working-fluid medium which has just enteredthe hot clearance volume 62, see FIGS. 3a, 3b, 30.

Due to the multiple laminar construction of this composite displacer 60,the ratio of the total areas of the walls defining the clearance volumes62 or 62' to the total volume of the clearances 62 or 62' will be large,thereby affording means for rapid heat transfer.

The timing mechanism for actuating the displacers may be seen in FIG. 1in conjunction with the timing sequence of FIG. 3. The timing drivesprocket 18 secured to crankshaft 1 is coupled at unity ratio to thedisplacer cam shaft 45 by means of chain 19 and drive sprocket 20.

The timing cams 21, 22 and 23 secured to cam shaft 45 are made toproduce an oscillatory angulation of the displacer drive forks 24, 25and 26 respectively about axis 47 through the cam follower levers 41, 42and 43 which are respectively secured to the coaxial drive sleeves 31,32 and 3 3. Springs 44 are provided to cause levers 41, 42 and 43 tofollow their corresponding cams.

Each drive fork 24, 25 and 26 embraces a corresponding drive pin 28secured to a displacer drive lever 27, so that by suitable design andphasing of the identical cams 21, 22 and 23 each displacer 60 is made tofollow the timing sequence of FIG. 3 with respect to the motion of itspiston '7.

The balanced floating seal which permits the oscillation of thedisplacer shaft 29 without loss of pressure from the working dense airchambers may be seen in FIG. 4 to comprise the two annular shoulderedsleeves 72 which canslide freely, in an axial direction in theiropeningsin end plates 49 and plates 51 but which are forced in oppositedirections to bear against and form 'a' sealing axial contact with endcup 73 and lever cup 27 respectively. The inner wall of floatingbushings 72 are tapered on the high pressure side to form a featheredgedradial seal.

This, invention teaches that when the ratio of the projected annulararea on which the high pressure fluid produces axial force such as thearea numbered 96 in FIG. 6, to the annular area of axial contact betweenbushing 72 and plate 73 (or plate 27) is equal to approximately 2/3, apressure balance or floating phenomenon takes place which allows theface of bushing 72 to slide freely on face'73 or 27 with negligiblefriction or wear and without leakage. It is surmised that thisphenomenon is due to a distributed radial pressure gradient in thegranular metal interface between bushing 72 and plate 27.

Pneumatic end thrust on shaft 29 is cancelled out by the'useof identicalfloating seals 72 at opposite ends.

Crankshaft .1 is also provided with a similar balanced seal 99 '(FIG. 1)at each end where it emerges from crankcase-reservoir 2. In FIG. 6 thedetails of the crankcase seals 99 are shown. Shaft 1 is provided with ashoulder 100, at each end, against which an annular floating pressureseal ring 72 (identical to the rings 72 in the displacer shaft seals ofFIG. 4) bears over the annular area 95. This is referred to as theindirect or floating area. The annular area on which the direct pressureto be sealed is exposed to is the projection of the conical area 96 on aplane normal to the axis of shaft 1. Pin 97 is fixed relative tocrankcase 2 and engages a slot in ring 72 to prevent its rotation withshaft 1 so that area 95 forms the sliding seal. As before, I teach thatthe said projection of area 96 is to be of area 95 to attain a floatinglow-friction sealing factor.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 5 it may be seen that the two combustionchambers 34 are positioned between the three heat exchanger heads 30 sothat the through ducts 37 in chambers 34 together with the compositecooling air exhaust ducts 56 form a manifold from which the excesscooling air escapes by exhaust duct 35. This excess exhaust air can beused for auxiliary heating purposes.

A portion of the air entering ducts 5 and 58, after it has been heatedin the process of cooling the workingfluid at fins 63, is allowed toenter the combustion chambers 34 where it is mixed with fuel supplied byfuel line 40 and injection nozzles 39 and ignited by spark plugs 36 toform hot products of combustion. Note should be made here that dampercontrol of air for combustion is not shown.

These combustion products then flow out of combustion chambers 34 viaducts 38 and 55 to give up their heat to the hot displacement volumes 62via fins 63 and walls 52. The used combustion products then pass out tothe exhaust manifold 68 via passages 57, 13, and 5. The operation of myinvention as seen in FIG. 3 is as follows: At the top of the compressionstroke of any piston 7 the Working dense-air or gas is at maximumdensity and minimum temperature and is located nearly entirely in thecold clearance volume 62 (see FIG. 4). At this time the displacer 60 isdriven by the cam shaft 45 to rotate 90 (FIG. 3a) in a counter-clockwisedirection so as to force the cold dense air via duct 14 through theregenerator 11 where it picks up previously stored heat and thencepasses via three junction manifolds 12 into the hot clearance volume 62'which increases in volume simultaneously with the decrease of the coldclearance volume 62.

Due to the large heat trans-fer surfaces offered by fins 63 and the thinlaminar walls 52, the regenerated warm dense working-fluid is rapidlyheated and dilated by heat supplied by the combustion products generatedin the combustion chambers 34. This expansion increases 6 the pressurethroughout the working-fluid, and work is done on the piston 7 and itsload 92, see FIG. 7, as the piston moves downward (FIGS. 3b, 3c, and3d).

Near the bottom of the power stroke the displacer 60 is now reversed inposition by a cam-operated 90 degrees displacement in a clockwisedirection (FIG. 3d) so that the hot clearance volume 62 is blocked off,by using the hollow displacer segments as a heat shutter, and at thesame time the cold clearance volume 62 is opened up to receive itsworking charge.

On the upward stroke (FIGS. 3e, 3f, 3g), the kinetic energy stored inthe rotating parts of the engine are allowed to do back work incompressing the expanded warm dense air. As this compression proceeds,the working air is forced to pass through the regenerator 11 where itleaves behind a substantial portion of its heat and thence proceeds toenter the cold clearance volume 62 where it is further cooled throughmultiple walls 52 by the low pressure air supplied by blower 17. The network representing the difference between that delivered during theexpansion stroke and that abstracted during the compression stroke isthen available for division between auxiliary requirements and usefuloutput.

It may readily be seen in FIG. 5 how the workingpistons displacement ofthe present invention has permitted clearance volinne proportions toattain a compression ratio on the order of 5+ to 1.

FIG. 7 illustrates the preferred means for maintaining and automaticallycontrolling the average density of the working-fluid air in response tothe load of the engine. In automative applications this disclosedcontrol means can largely take over the function of a variable ratiotransmission.

Since the three pistons 7 are equally displaced in phase by 120 on thecrankshaft 1, it is evident that the volume of the pneumatic crankcasereservoir 86 is constant with crankshaft rotation.

The inlet duct 79 connects an air pump 80 driven by electric motor 82and a pre-set pressure sensitive switch 83-81 to the reservoir 86. Themotor 82, current sup ply 84 and pressure sensitive switch 83 areelectrically connected to power an air pressure servo system which willtend to keep the air pressure in the reservoir at a high predeterminedlevel. Duct 78 leads from reservoir 86 through control valve 77 and flowlimiting rate-valve 7-6 to each of the one-way check valves 74, 74 and74" which then each lead via ducts 75, 75 and 75 respectively to the hotclearance volumes 62 of the three corresponding displacer heads 30.

Conversely ducts 89, 89' and 89" lead from the corre sponding coldclearance volumes 62 through the oneway check values 90, 90' and 90" tothe ducts 85, and 85" thence exhausting into the air after passingthrough rate limiting valve 88 and the exhaust control valve 87.

A torque sensing mechanism 91 is made to generate (by means well knownin the control art) the control signal 93 when the torque imposed onshaft 1 by load 92 exceeds a predetermined value. Signal 93 opens valve77 which in turn allows working-fluid under relative high pressure fromreservoir 86 to sequentially increase the base pressure in each of thethree working cylinders as dictated by the cyclic pressure reversalsacross check valves 74, 74' and 74".

Conversely, torque sensing mechanism 91 is made to generate a signal 94when the torque imposed on shaft 1 by load 92 decreases below apredetermined value. Signal 94 opens valve 87 leading to atmospherethereby drop ping the base density in each of the three workingcylinders.

In this manner the speed and torque delivery capabilities of the denseair-engine have been automatically regulated in response to the load tochange the base pressure which in turn determines the rate of heattransfer possible for a given piston pressure and results in a higher orlower M.E.P. as the case may be.

The diagrams in FIGS. 7a and 7b clearly distinguish 'the basicdifferences between my four chambered engine as shown in 7a and the wellknown three chambered coaxial displacer engine as shown in 7b. It is tobe noted that the separate cold clearance volume C of my engine has nodirect access to the piston chamber P whereas the piston chamber P andcold clearance volume C of the coaxial displacer engine are coincident.Because of this coincidence there can be no direct duct in 7b from thehot clearance volume H to the piston chamber P because such a duct wouldthrow away heat by directly connecting C and H. In my device, however,the three way duct 12 directly connects H and P. It is because of theabsence of a direct duct from H to P that the displacer D of 7b mustfollow the piston down in the expansion stroke thereby forfeiting a highcompression ratio.

By providing a direct duct 12 from H to P my geometry permits theindependent control of displacer and piston, thereby permitting highcompression ratios.

It should also be emphasized that the multiple segmented displacerresults in a maximum of heat transference with respect to its exteriordimensions. It also requires a minimum of clearance volume which permitsa high ratio of compression. If each sector of the displacer, for anillustration, is one eighth of an inch in thickness (solid) as seen inFIG. 8 and a ten one-thousandth of an inch mechanical tolerance isprovided on each side thereof, the laminar hollow heating or the coolingelements which intermesh with the displacer sectors as adjacent surfacesare only .127 of an inch apart. It is thus seen that very elfective heattransfer conditions are brought into play, such as, the air or gas to beheated or cooled is forced into films and coincidently subjected to highvelocity impingement in a compacted lamina] structure as taught by thepresent invention.

By utilizing crankcase 2 as a working fluid reservoir it is seen that adesirable pneumatic cushioning effect on the pistons 7 is obtained toabsorb their reversal inertias at the termination of their respectiveexpansion strokes. A tissue oil vapor separator may be inserted inoutlet pipe 78 in FIG. 7 to contain the oil vapor content in transittherefrom.

Referring to FIG. 1, it is quite evident to those skilled in this artthat by well known manually adjustable mechanism, not shown, interposedbetween sprocket 20 and displacer cam shaft 45, the displacer 60, asseen in sequential positions, as in FIG. 3, during each revolution canbe arbitrarily shifted in respect to the pistons 7 position, so that theengines crankshaft 1 can be reversed in its operational direction ofrotation. More specifically, in FIG. the displacer 60 is shown inregister with the heating surfaces. It would be, therefore, arbitrarilyrotated by shaft 29, 90 degrees anticlockwise into a similar registeringposition with the cooling surfaces and the engine would reverse itsdirection of rotation due to the shifting of cams 21, 22 and 23 in FIG.1 as dictated by the manipulation of the above mentioned manuallyadjustable mechanism.

What I claim is:

1. A dense-air or gaseous externally fired engine comprising a cylinder,a piston in said cylinder, a crankcase secured to the base of saidcylinder, a crankshaft, means to mount said crankshaft in hearings insaid cranckcase and means to connect said piston with said crankshaft topermit said piston to reciprocate in said cylinder while said crankshaftrevolves, a cylinder head for said cylinder, an approximatelycylindrical cavity in said cylinder head, a port in the base of saidcavity in open communication with said cylinder, a displacer, bearingmeans to rotably mount said displacer in said cavity, the axis of saiddisplacer mounting being approximately at right angles with the axis ofsaid cylinder, said displacer composed of a connected series of in-linelaminar disk-like elements, said elements-spaced apart to permit a likeseries of laminar stationary hollow heating surfaces to intermeshbetween said spaced apart disk-like elements of said displacer, saidheating surfaces confined to a segment in said cylindrical cavityentirely on one side of the axis of said mounting, a like series ofhollow cooling surfaces adapted to also mesh with said disk-likeelements, said cooling surfaces occupying a similar position in respectto said displacer but entirely in an opposite segment on the other sideof the axis of said mounting, means to oscillate and time theoscillation of said displacer in said bearings whereby said displacerelements mesh in register with said cooling elements during theexpansion stroke of said piston and mesh in register with said heatingelements during the compression stroke of said piston, and means to heatthe interior of said heating surfaces and means to cool the interior ofsaid cooling surfaces.

2. The text of claim 1 and automatic means to maintain a predetermineddegree of air pressure in the clearance volume of said engine to serveas a pressurized workingfluid system.

3. The text of claim 2 and a load-torque indexing and actuating means tovary said pressure of said working-fluid of said engine to increase saidpressure when said load torque on said engine increases and to lowersaid pressure when said load torque on said engine decreases.

4. The text of claim 1 and multiple segmented regenerator elementspositioned in parallel planes as defined by the planes occupied by saidhollow heating and said cooling surfaces so as to intermesh with saidlaminar disklike elements of the displacer during their transit ofoscillation, said regenerator elements occupying a space in lengthbetween the radial boundaries of said heating and said cooling surfacesand in an adjacent relation to said cylinder.

5. A dense working fluid high-compression heat engine comprising acylinder, a cylinder head secured to the top of said cylinder, a pistonin said cylinder, an output shaft, means to convert the reciprocation ofsaid piston into revolutions of said out-put shaft, a chamber in saidcylinder head, its axis of generation at right angles with the axis ofsaid cylinder, said chamber substantially formed as a capital D, thevertical portion of the D being adjacent to and in parallelism with thetop of said cylinder, a port in open communication between said chamberand said cylinder, a displacer, means to rotatably journal saiddisplacer in said chamber on a shaft, said displacer formed of aplurality of laminar spaced apart sectors on said shaft, means tooscillate said displacer in a specific timed relation with thereciprocations of said piston, a plurality of hollow heating surfaces,said surfaces formed in projecting relation towards the axis of rotationof said displacer, a plurality of hollow cooling surfaces likewisepositioned in a similar relation on the opposite side of the axis ofoscillation of said displacer whereby when said sectors of saiddisplacer are oscillated, said sectors assume an intermeshing relationonly with said heating surfaces at one extremity of the displacersoscillation and said sectors assume a similar relationship with saidcooling surfaces at the other extremity of said oscillation and means tocirculate a heating medium through said hollow heating surfaces and acooling agent through said cooling surfaces.

6. The text of claim 5 and pumping means to maintain a predeterminedpressure of a working fluid for said engine.

7. The text of claim 5 and a series of heat regenerative elementsinterposed in the base of said chamber in those spaces as defined by theplurality of spaces formed between the limiting radial boundaries ofsaid heating and said cooling surfaces, said series of regeneratorsspaced apart to that degree one from the other to permit said displacersectors to pass therebetween in the course of the oscillation of saiddisplacer.

8. A dense working-fluid externally fired engine comprising a cylinder,a cylinder-head therefor, means to secure said cylinder head to saidcylinder, a crankcase secured to the baseofsaid cylinder, an out-putshaft rotatably journaled in said crankcase, a reciprocating piston insaid cylindenm'eans to convert the reciprocations of said piston intorotation of said output shaft, a displacer, said displacer formed ingeneral contour as an approximate quadrant of a circle, a cavity in saidcylinder head, a port in open communication connecting the adjacentportion of said cavity with the top of said cylinder, said cavity formedcylindrical with-a flat circumferential portion in adjacent relationwith the top of said cylinder to permit said displacer to be oscillatedthrough an amplitude of approximately ninety degrees, bearing means topermit oscillation of said displacer in said cavity, means to oscillatesaid displacer, a heating surface, a cooling surface, means to heat saidheating surface and means to cool said cooling surface, said heatingsurface positioned along a specific segment of said cylindrical cavityto bring it into register with said displacer at one extremity of saiddisplacers oscillation and said cooling surface so positioned as to alsobring it into register with said displacer at the other extremity ofsaid oscillation.

9. The text of claim 8 and dense working-fluid supply means andworking-fluid exhaust means, said means in operative valved connectionwith the clearance volume of said engine to thereby increase or decreasethe pressure of said working-fluid operative in said clearance volume insaid engine respectively when a torque responsive means dictates anincrease in the output torque from said engine and to decrease thepressure in the clearance volume of the engine when said torqueresponsive means dictates a decrease in the working-fluid in saidclearance volume.

10. A dense working-fluid modified Stirling cycle engine comprising acylinder, a piston, means to reciprocate said piston in said cylinder,an output shaft, means to convert said reciprocations of said pistoninto rotations of said shaft, a cylinder head, a chambered cavity insaid cylinder head, a displacer, means to oscillate said displacer, saiddisplacer journaled to oscillate in said cavity, hollowformed heatingsurface, hollow-formed cooling surfaces, means to circulate a heatingmedium to heat the interior of said heating surfaces and to circulate acooling agent to cool the interior of said cooling surfaces, saidheating surfaces positioned within said cavity to register with saiddisplacer at one extremity of its oscillation during every compressionstroke of said piston, said cooling surfaces positioned within saidcavity to register with said displacer at its other extremity of saidoscillation during each expansion stroke of said piston, a port in opencommunication between said cavity and the top of said cyl inder andmeans to maintain a working-medium under pressure in the clearancevolume of said engine.

11. The text of claim 10 said displacer formed of a plurality of spacedapart laminar disks, said heating and said cooling surfaces so formed asto respectively intermesh when in registration between said plurality ofdisks of said displacer at every other extremity of each of itssuccessive oscillations.

12. A dense-air working fluid externally fired engine comprising acylinder, a reciprocating piston in said cylinder, an out-put shaft,means to convert the reciprocations of said piston into revolutions ofsaid output shaft, a cylinder head, means to secure said cylinder headto said cylinder, a chamber in said cylinder head, a port connectingsaid chamber with the top of said cylinder, a displacer, said displacercomposed of a plurality of laminar sectors, said sectors spaced apartand secured along a common shaft, means to journal said common shaft topermit said sectors thereon to be displaced through an amplitude ofoscillation within said chamber, a plurality of stationary spaced apartheating elements, a plurality of stationary spaced apart coolingelements, means to position and to formulate said heating elements aspositioned within said chamber to register in intermeshing relationshipwith said oscillative spaced apart sectors of said displacer during themajor portion of the compression stroke of said piston in said cylinderand to likewise arrange said cooling elements within said chamber tocome into registration in an intermeshing relationship with saidoscillative spaced apart sectors of said displacer during the majorportion of every expansion stroke of said piston and means to heat saidheating elements and to cool said cooling elements.

13. The text of claim 12 and actuating mechanism to oscillate saiddisplacer in an intermittent movement to thereby generate a dwell duringsaid intermeshing relationship.

14. The text of claim 12 and automatic means to maintain a specificpressure of working-fluid in the clearance volume of said engine.

15. In an externally fired heat engine having dense air as its workingfluid, the combination comprising: a cooling chamber; a heating chamber;a regenerator chamber; a working piston chamber; a thermal mass ofsubstantial area within said regenerator chamber; a first port in saidregenerator chamber; a second port in said regenerator chamber; firstduct means interconnecting said cooling chamber and said firstregenerator port; second duct means interconnecting said secondregenerator port, said heating chamber and said working piston chamber;means to cool said cooling chamber; means to heat said heating chamber;a displacer member forming a bounding wall on one side of said coolingchamber and a bounding wall on a second side thereof of said heatingchamber; a first reciprocating means to move said displacer memberwhereby with one direction of reciprocation to diminish the elfectivevolume of said cooling chamber while increasing the effective volume ofsaid heating chamber, and with the converse direction of reciprocationto diminish the effective volume of said heating chamber whileincreasing the effective volume of said cooling chamber; a workingpiston forming a boundary to said working piston chamber; a secondreciprocating means reciprocated by said piston whereby to change theeifective volume of said working piston chamber; and timing meansinterrelating said first and second reciprocating means whereby todiminish the volume of said heating chamber during the compressionstroke of said piston and to diminish the volume of said cooling chamberduring the expansion stroke of said piston.

16. In an engine according to claim 15; said displacer member being inlaminar form interleaving said cooling means on one side andinterleaving said heating means on another side.

17. In an engine according to claim 15; said first reciprocating meanscomprising oscillating means.

18. In an engine according to claim 15; said displacer member comprisinghollow laminations.

19. In an engine according to claim 15; a reservoir chamber bounded atone area by said piston; means to maintain a constant volume of air insaid reservoir chamber; means to maintain a substantially constantpressure in said reservoir chamber; and duct means having meansresponsive to the work done by said piston to transfer air from saidreservoir to said working piston, heating, cooling, and regeneratorchambers.

20. A high compression externally fired heat engine comprising acylinder, a piston, a crankshaft, a crankcase, means to journal saidcrankshaft in said crankcase, means to transform the reciprocations ofsaid piston in said cylinder into revolutions of said crankshaft, adisplacer, means to journal said displacer, means to oscillate saiddisplacer, a temperature regenerator, a cooling element, a heatingelement, a cylinder-head, means to secure said cylinder head to saidcylinder, a chamber in said cylinder-head, a first duct in opencommunication between said cylinder and said chamber, a second ductconnected to a side-wall of said first duct and giving access to thecooling surfaces of said cooling element, said regenerator positionedwithin said second duct, means to operatively position in functioningrelation one with the other in said chamber; said displacer, said heat-22. The text of claim 20 and said displacer composed ing element andsaid cooling element, means to heat said of a plurality of thin laminalspaced-apart sectors, said heating element, means to cool said coolingelement, sectors secured to the common axis of said oscillation. meansto supply a pressurized working-fluid to said chamher and means to timethe displacements of said oscil- 5 References Cited in the file of thispatent lating displacer in said chamber with the reciprocations UNITEDSTATES PATENTS of said piston in said cylinder.

21. The text of claim 20, the axis of said journaled 2,326,901 ThompsonAug. 17, 1943 oscillating displacer being approximately at right angles2,664,698 Van De Poll et a1 Jan. 5, 1954 to the axis of said cylinder.10

